Federal Judge Rules Trump Administration's Targeting of Pro-Palestinian Students Unconstitutional Violation of Free Speech Rights

Pro-Palestinian protesters march through Manhattan near the UN office on September 26.

A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration's policy of detaining and attempting to deport international students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests constitutes an illegal and explicit suppression of free speech.

In Boston, US District Judge William Young delivered a strongly worded decision declaring that actions taken by the Department of Homeland Security and State Department represented "truly scandalous and unconstitutional suppression of free speech."

The judge determined that the Trump administration specifically targeted non-citizen students supporting Palestinians during the ongoing Gaza conflict, with the clear intention of "tamping down pro-Palestinian student protests and terrorizing similarly situated" students.

Judge Young, an appointee of former Republican President Ronald Reagan, announced he would determine appropriate remedies for the administration's conduct following a future hearing.

Since March, immigration authorities began arresting and initiating deportation proceedings against international students who had been actively opposing Israel's military operations in Gaza.

These detained students faced no criminal charges, with some spending weeks in Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, often located far from their residences.

The administration characterized these arrests as efforts to combat antisemitism, claiming without providing evidence that the targeted students had encouraged violence or supported Hamas, the Palestinian militant group.

Officials argued that foreign students do not possess the same free speech protections as American citizens.

"Yes, they do," Judge Young emphatically stated in his ruling. "The First Amendment does not draw President Trump's invidious distinction and it is not to be found in our history or jurisprudence."

The judge highlighted one prominent case in this crackdown: Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University graduate student in Boston who was arrested by masked agents outside her home in March after co-authoring an opinion piece criticizing her university's response to the war.

Ozturk was detained for more than six weeks at an ICE facility in Louisiana until a judge ordered her release.

Judge Young also referenced Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University student and legal US resident who emerged as a visible leader of pro-Palestinian campus protests. Khalil was arrested in March and detained until June.

During court proceedings, Homeland Security officials testified that they utilized lists compiled by pro-Israel organizations to identify individuals for arrest, according to the judge.